MUMBAI: The Indian rupee was marginally up in early trade on Friday tracking a rise in Asian peers, and local stocks, but the euro's losses versus the dollar weighed.
* At 9:30 a.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 44.91/92 per dollar from Thursday's close of 44.97/98 and is expected to move in 44.85-45.05 band.
* Dollar demand from importers for defence payments is likely to cap the rupee's gains.
* India shares extended their early gains to rise to 1 percent taking cues from Asian peers.
* For a snapshot of Asian currencies, see: * The index of the dollar against six major currencies was down 0.03 percent at 75.104 points, and lower than 75.317 at the close of the domestic forex market on Thursday.
* The euro eased against the dollar on Friday, but held on to much of the gains it made the previous day after some weak U.S. economic data underscored expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates near zero for a while.
